Snowblower Finally! A New Loftness Snowblower for me!

[Iowa2210]

I have been looking for a 3 point snowblower for about a year now, but I get heartburn everytime I see new prices in the $2k range. Well, my patience finally paid off and I found this used unit locally, just picked it up friday, finished extending the hydralics lines as it has hyd. chute rotation.

It's easily the most overbuilt piece of machinery I have seen. The auger is built from 1/4" flat stock, and it throws rocks just fine. Which is good, because I have a feeling I will throw many of them.

All in all, a great find. So this is really just a "Yippee" thread, but also a reminder to keep looking for that great deal, they are out there.

Iowa2210

 

[Timber]

Ok I'll bite what did you pay for it. It is a killer looking unit

 

[Ductape]

AND it was the right color from the get go ???

 

[Iowa2210]

Isn't it convenient that it was already painted JD colors. They appear to be original, as all the nameplates and decals were put on after the paint. I notice that the new Loftness ones are gray.

MSRP on this unit was $2400 + $300 for the hydraulic chute. Current MSRP is about $3300 + $400, so I thought the $600 I paid for it was quite the stroke of luck for me.

If I only lived 100 miles east, I'd have 10" of snow to blow, but we got only about 2". Oh well, another storm expected by the end of the week!

Iowa2210

 

[hwp]

That looks like a mean machine. I don't think I have ever seen one before where the drum for the impeller raises above the body. That is a neat way to have a larger impeller. What is the diameter of the impeller? My guess is about 24 inches. If so, you will have lots of throw power.

 

[Iowa2210]

Spec sheet on the current ones says its a 20" impeller, this one is at least that, maybe more. It does have about 1/4" of clearance between the impeller and housing, which could be narrowed with one of the snowblower improvement kits, but I have a feeling I'm going to throw so many rocks with it, that it won't last.

I was crawling under it last night, and the cutting edge is 3/8" flat stock. Seriously, how in the world would you ever wear that down?!?

Iowa2210

 

[WayneB]

That is a great find! Sure you will get the snow to use it in too. Now all you need is a good snowmobile suite to wear while blowing snow.

Trust me you will need it. I also have a heated helment that I use with mine. The face windshield is heated too and melts off the blown snow.

You will be a walking snowman after blowing for a bit.

Enjoy!

Wayne

 

[rbargeron]

Great find ! Nice chute turner !! One nice thing about the older brand units (Loftness, Normand, New Idea, McKee, Morneau & others) is they are built really strong, with rugged enough gearboxes to support a big impeller. Another nice feature is they are sometimes really cheap. I think I gave $325 for my 7' New Idea a few years ago - it didn't look as good as yours. Paint job and other mods Here

 

[Iowa2210]

Well Loftness was able to provide a parts manual for it, but strangely didn't seem to offer a operators/service manual. The parts manual indicates that it has a Superior 200 gearbox on it, rated for 35hp. I figured the least I could do is change the gear oil. I'm guessing because its designed to be used in cold weather that it would use a 75W-90 multi-vis gear oil. But I guess the is the possibility is could use the 80W-140. Anybody got an opinion on that?

We certainly don't have a much snow here in the Missouri River valley as you have in NH. Our place is on the west side of a 3/4 mile wide creek valley and is cut from an old farm terrace. Being so, there are exacty ZERO trees around our house. Drifting is our biggest problem with the winter winds. Sometimes a 3" snow will give me a driveway about 18" deep with snow. I shudder to think what will happen if we ever get a 12" snow!

Iowa2210

 

[dtd24]

Nice machine. What a steal. I have been keepin my eyes open, but nothing yet.
If you want to really test it out come on up to NY. I have 4' on the ground. Some parts of NY have 12'

Supposed to get 7" tomorrow.............Hurry!!!!